Nathan's Never Forget analysis

Never Forget analysis

In the short film “Never Forget”, spectators are positioned to have certain views towards the opposing genders. The male protagonist and female antagonist have parts of their personality revealed throughout the film, with all 4 technical codes being used to help spectators understand their situation. 

The opening extreme close up of the film shows a hand unzipping the costume of a well kept suit with delicate body language. This immediately portrays the male protagonist as someone who likes to dress up nicely and  cares about looking good for his partner. The parallel diegetic soundtrack of gentle piano music adds to the sophisticated attributes of the man. High frequency parallel cutting is then used to contrast the male and female characters, with the latter having more rushed body language which is emphasised through fast diegetic footsteps. We are positioned to see the front of the man and the back of the woman, suggesting that she has something to hide.

Two props which are contrasted are the mirror held by the woman and phone held by the man. The woman is portrayed as someone who cares about looking at herself, whereas the man looks at his phone with a background of the two of them together. This prop is shown at a close up to highlight the love he had for her. 

The setting of the city skyline is blurred when we see the man, with shallow depth of field focussing on just him. This acts as restricted narration to slightly distort the fact that he’s higher up than the woman. This makes the ending of the short film more shocking for spectators. The difference in the style of the background represents the distance between the two of them, despite being near each other in reality.

The dialogue throughout the phone conversation suggests that the woman is on edge with a nervous tone as she lies about things such as having a “Chinese takeaway”. The eye level close up with high key lighting emphasises her shifty and uneasy facial expressions, as she knows she’s lying.

Within the flashbacks to the previous night, the tone is brighter and more affectionate, as portrayed through the female’s perspective with high key lighting and a warm colour grade added in post  production. The red colours suggest strong feelings between the woman and her new lover. The shallow depth of field keeps focus just on the two of them, and is also used later when they walk obliviously past the man, who is at a long shot to show his loneliness in the bar. The focus pull used to contrast the characters helps show their differing emotions due to the woman actions. Spectators are made to feel sorry for the man through these techniques. 

Prior to the shocking suicide at the end of the film, spectators are still clueless to what is about to happen, and witness the man’s final moments through a powerful extreme close up. His distraught facial expressions and dialogue all create a tense ending to the short film, as we still don't know what’s about to happen. 

The final shot of the film is incredibly shocking for spectators, as much of the suicide is just suggested through a diegetic cracking sound and a brief flash of a falling body. The main confirmation about what has happened, however, is the reaction of the woman. Her body language and facial expressions add to the shocking moment, and spectators are encouraged to feel the same way as her. It is a very enigmatic moment presented through  restricted narration, as we don’t actually see what has happened, but simply a reaction to it. This is an incredibly compelling yet distressing technique for spectators.